Typography: A Brief History and TutorialSpanish title : Typography: A Brief History and Tutorial

Typography has specific characteristics. It involves creating a complete, reusable typeface that allows you to make language visible. The words written in this post are visible simply because of typography. It just happens to have been written in Arial typography, or font. Before you plunge into creating typography, however, you should understand a little about its history.

The History of Typography

Typography has been traced as far back as 1850 to 1600 BC and originated in Greece. It began with punches and dies used to make seals and currency. In those days, typographers would use something known as a Phaistos Disk. With the language symbols carved into the disk, typographers would press this disk onto the paper or other material to print the words they wanted.Spanish body content

Typography has specific characteristics. It involves creating a complete, reusable typeface that allows you to make language visible. The words written in this post are visible simply because of typography. It just happens to have been written in Arial typography, or font. Before you plunge into creating typography, however, you should understand a little about its history.

The History of Typography

Typography has been traced as far back as 1850 to 1600 BC and originated in Greece. It began with punches and dies used to make seals and currency. In those days, typographers would use something known as a Phaistos Disk. With the language symbols carved into the disk, typographers would press this disk onto the paper or other material to print the words they wanted.

Movable type was first invented in China and usually involved ceramic or wooden components. In the thirteenth century in medieval Europe, typographers would use single letter tiles to create lettering on walls. This was a very popular form used throughout Europe until the metal movable type was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the fifteenth century. His technique allowed letter punches to create multiple copies of the same document, and it was used to print the first movable type book–the Gutenberg Bible.

The Digital Age introduced a whole new line of tools for typographers. One of the best typography tools out there is Adobe Design Standard. You can use this program to create your own typography. TransType 4 and FrontLab Studio 5.2 are two other programs available to create your own typography or edit created typography to customize it. However, not everyone is an artist, and there are other programs out there that allow users to use fonts created by those that are. Creative Fonts is a program with 3,000 created fonts that allows the user to add these fonts to any printed or web documents they might have.

Now that you know a little about the history of typography, let’s move on to the creation of typography.

Creating Typography

1. Using a software to create typography

As stated before, you can easily use a digital program to help you create a font. Adobe Design Standard includes Adobe Illustrator, which can be used to create the visual look of your font. It’s best to have some art skill before attempting to create your own typography. You might not consider it an art form, but typography can visually say a lot more than the words you use it to visualize.

2. Creating a typography by hand

If you’re feeling especially creative, you can create your typography by hand and even create stamps or tiles to use your font instead of digitizing it. With this method, you’ll require a sketchbook, pencils, rubber to make your stamps (optional), and clay to make your tiles (optional). Again, you will need artistic skills to create your typography, and both methods of creating typography require that you at least know the basics of typography.

The Basics of Typography

Whenever starting anything, you should always know the basics. One way to start is to know the terms involved with typography. Some of those terms include counter, bowl, spine, ascendor, descender, terminal, serifs, stem, and ligature. These terms make up the parts of the letters you will be creating. Kerning is another important term to know as it involves the spacing of letters, and spacing is very important to create a good typography.

Typeface is another very important component to typography as it involves the style and tone of your font. Using these will give the user an idea of what you were wanting to communicate when you created the typography. Keeping typeface in mind will help users of your font decide when to use it. Is it a font used for formal invitations to parties, casual get-togethers, or creating essays and other business documents? For more information about the basics of typography and some great tips, check out these eight rules for creating effective typography.

One Thing to Remember

Typography can be viewed as an art form. Art is created by people who use their creativity. Your fonts say something about your creativity, and you should use that to your advantage. The same idea applies to paintings as it does to typography–the rules are not there to force you into creating specific fonts. Beautiful fonts are created just like beautiful paintings, by people willing to take risks and come up with new ideas.

Movable type was first invented in China and usually involved ceramic or wooden components. In the thirteenth century in medieval Europe, typographers would use single letter tiles to create lettering on walls. This was a very popular form used throughout Europe until the metal movable type was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the fifteenth century. His technique allowed letter punches to create multiple copies of the same document, and it was used to print the first movable type book–the Gutenberg Bible.

The Digital Age introduced a whole new line of tools for typographers. One of the best typography tools out there is Adobe Design Standard. You can use this program to create your own typography. TransType 4 and FrontLab Studio 5.2 are two other programs available to create your own typography or edit created typography to customize it. However, not everyone is an artist, and there are other programs out there that allow users to use fonts created by those that are. Creative Fonts is a program with 3,000 created fonts that allows the user to add these fonts to any printed or web documents they might have.

Now that you know a little about the history of typography, let’s move on to the creation of typography.

Creating Typography

1. Using a software to create typography

As stated before, you can easily use a digital program to help you create a font. Adobe Design Standard includes Adobe Illustrator, which can be used to create the visual look of your font. It’s best to have some art skill before attempting to create your own typography. You might not consider it an art form, but typography can visually say a lot more than the words you use it to visualize.

2. Creating a typography by hand

If you’re feeling especially creative, you can create your typography by hand and even create stamps or tiles to use your font instead of digitizing it. With this method, you’ll require a sketchbook, pencils, rubber to make your stamps (optional), and clay to make your tiles (optional). Again, you will need artistic skills to create your typography, and both methods of creating typography require that you at least know the basics of typography.

The Basics of Typography

Whenever starting anything, you should always know the basics. One way to start is to know the terms involved with typography. Some of those terms include counter, bowl, spine, ascendor, descender, terminal, serifs, stem, and ligature. These terms make up the parts of the letters you will be creating. Kerning is another important term to know as it involves the spacing of letters, and spacing is very important to create a good typography.

Typeface is another very important component to typography as it involves the style and tone of your font. Using these will give the user an idea of what you were wanting to communicate when you created the typography. Keeping typeface in mind will help users of your font decide when to use it. Is it a font used for formal invitations to parties, casual get-togethers, or creating essays and other business documents? For more information about the basics of typography and some great tips, check out these eight rules for creating effective typography.

One Thing to Remember

Typography can be viewed as an art form. Art is created by people who use their creativity. Your fonts say something about your creativity, and you should use that to your advantage. The same idea applies to paintings as it does to typography–the rules are not there to force you into creating specific fonts. Beautiful fonts are created just like beautiful paintings, by people willing to take risks and come up with new ideas.